Most sleds or skid-like devices are equipped with runners of a very small width as they meet the earth or ice and snow approximating skate blades in their knife edge. The runners generally are of substantial length and they are in rigid support of a cargo or base or superstructure so that in use the cargo or material supported by the runners is subjected to severe shock loading as the runners are moved over rough and irregular terrain. Insofar as the applicant is aware none of the known structures having runners are alternately nestable against the surface to be supported and are extendable therefrom; none of the runner structures provide a shock absorption function in which the runners or skis flex under impact loading as they are subjected to deformation so that the load on the runners is cushioned; none of the prior sled-like devices, as known to applicant, have skis (of substantial width) which upon tensioning from one end are extended from the cargo base; and none provide smooth and flexible skis between hinged support brackets.
The structures as claimed herein first found use in the ski supports for recreational structures such as erected and collapsed ice fishing shanties. Such shanties are dragged or pushed across terrain, ice and snow and are collapsed or disassembled repeatedly in moving from one selected site to another site.